Kalman Pool
UK & CHINA
art@kalmanpool.art
kalmanpool.com
ONLINE RESIDENCY / CHALLENGE PAPER STATEMENT
In the center of the COVID-19 outbreak—London, I used a marker to preserve and contemplate this magical post-pandemic era of 2020 within a sheet of A4 paper: a single-limbed conjoined creature composed of five separate autonomous living bodies juxtaposes with a kind of new language, perhaps a symbolic rebirth of the Tower of Babel, a longing dystopian wish of new civilizations—through viruses and biological mutations, the massive flow of the post-dinosaur era has been poetically unveiled; It was so close to what I have imagined: the noisy and chaotic state of original being; Let's try to imagine, through the black line-work, a primitive yet powerful sign, to explore the waving post-human era—an aim to bring meaning and unconceal fear from the nature of existentialism.
GALLERY ONE
JJ
Tracking back to the inflatable sculpture's root, the Ghost Army in WWII, utilizing inflatable dummy tanks and coherent deceptive strategy, successfully fooled the German Army—not only their reconnaissance aircraft but also their combat decision-making. Ultimately, this first and perhaps the only artist-led top-secret unit in WWII saved thousands of lives by functional inflatable dummies without killing. Inflatable tank thus functioned as a modern Trojan Horse.
While contemporary artists seemingly approach inflatable sculptures as a kind of phenomenal, public art, (such as the Rubber Duck by Florentijn Hofman), yet still inherit the 60s tradition as a hybrid form of Pop and fetishism. Yet, inevitably falling into the category of Baudrillard's representation, Greenbergian Kitsch and Platonic removal of truth. Nonetheless, those large-scale inflatables are doomed to be manufactured in a mechanical reproduction method, with the deprivation of the original, a new crisis of the original, copyright and perception has arisen, reaching to the field of sculpture, admittedly as a technological progression gradually proving Benjamin's profound vision.
Despite eventually being an artwork made in a mechanical reproduction method, and a Simulacra simulated the Utopian Virtual Reality world, at least extent, my inflatable sculpture JJ is yet giving life in virtue of its physically inflated body, a possibility to interact with its natural surroundings.
Air and Care compose as the mechanism, eventually activating the aliveness of the inflatable JJ:
Air: first of all, the main component required for the inflatable sculpture is air, though alternatively, it can be filled with different natural gases (helium or hydrogen) for a particular application. If there is no air infilled, its shape cannot be expanded; consequently, it is a pile of fabrics. The importance of air, as for the inflatable, seemingly is equivalent to that of water for the jellyfish. While the jellyfish is made out of 95% of water, similarly, the inflatable sculpture is composed of 95% of air. Although the jellyfish has tentacles, its movement is yet mainly driven by water flow. As a metaphor, the inflatable sculpture is like an air-jellyfish. Although it may not move, its essential element—air, is somewhat corresponding to that of water for jellyfish, to a certain extent, gives it biomimetic characteristics.
Care: the aliveness of the inflatable sculpture is revealed in the instability of the material it uses. Usually, the inflatable sculpture is made of plastic, under different environments, temperatures, and humidity. As a result of physical reactions, it is more prone to accidents. Compared with traditional three-dimensional sculptural materials, such as metal and stone, air leakage as a major accident is more likely to happen in the case of plastic-made inflatables frequently. Therefore, to take care of or maintain a sealed inflatable sculpture, like JJ, it is necessary to inflate it regularly every day or every few days to secure a better shape, a suitable living condition. Hence, this action of taking care—paradoxically reflects the living state of the inflatable sculpture, despite being an inanimate, non-bio object.
Overall, precisely because of the instability of the inflatable sculpture material and Air as its main component ultimately manifest its short-term, non-eternal state of existence. Air and Care compose as the mechanism, triggering its aliveness—a profound leap that transforms the inanimate to the autonomous living being thereby transcending beyond mechanical reproduced simulacra.
GALLERY TWO
VR
I started using Oculus Rift to create VR sculptures in 2018. In the past two years, I have created hundreds of digital VR sculptures. For me, VR is a revolutionary 3D-making tool. In virtue of the "dematerialization" of the digital sculpture and the portability of the VR device, I have been able to bring it to multiple cities across Europe, America, and Asia: where I visited and resided, responding to the local cultures and sculpting on-site.
Inspired by the natural history and the animal behavior which I used to study in the U.S, within this virtual world, I have invented and portrayed a series of giant hermaphroditic, biologically mutated and autonomous creatures—located in a kind of dystopian era yet poetically presented in the form of public art, ultimately aiming to unconceal the liquid modernity, perhaps a possibility of "constant becoming."
